The Venice Sketchbook

by Rhys Bowen

“Ah yes. Terrible food but a garden. So typically English.”

Cross-country runs before breakfast, and the food was abysmal. They served us porridge and baked beans.” “I like baked beans on toast,” I said. “Well, you would. The English have no sense of good food,”

“At eighteen, everyone likes beauty. Everyone has great visions for the future.”

We humans have the capacity to survive almost anything. Not only to survive but to come through triumphant. Another door will open. You’ll see. A better one. A safer one. A brighter future.”

“People only bully because they feel inadequate, Caroline. You should pity them.

“Experience makes one come to terms with life, to be at one with the mind and the heart. And most people are suffering in some way.”

“It is good for them to know what is being created, rather than just relying on the past,” I replied. “They can make up their own minds whether they think modern art is equally beautiful.”

“My dear girl, in my world everyone has a lover or a mistress, is homosexual or bisexual and certainly has the odd illegitimate child. Nobody will raise an eyebrow, I assure you.”

I was unprepared for the sensations I felt, and with them came one overwhelming thought: I can never give him up.